


warm heart, cold fingers

by beoluve



Category: Kamen Rider V3
Genre: Fighting evil and being soft, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 10:03:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21134921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beoluve/pseuds/beoluve
Summary: Shiro and Joji go on a mission together, but things are not as planned.





	warm heart, cold fingers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moon_Blitz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moon_Blitz/gifts).

Quiet, quiet.

Joji had to stay quiet. Small breaths, quiet steps. If he gave himself away, perhaps this would be the end. Things would end up even worse if anyone heard him.

Despite traveling around the world to find and defeat monsters, Shiro would often ways to call out to Joji and meet up with him. Fleeting time of leisure together, but things wound up working out in the long run. Recently, he had been tipped off about a remnant hideout in the Canadian wilderness. 

They had to meet in person, of course, as phones and letters weren’t safe for their line of work necessarily, and discuss it. After planning out where and what to do, they created a game plan and set out across the ocean. The thing that was surprising at first was the cold. From the moment they got off onto tarmac, their breath came out in little puffs from the temperature. 

Unfortunately, the great wilderness didn’t provide great holding or roads, so the bikes had to be left behind and the trek made on foot, mostly. Neither being particularly up on talking, most of the time was spent in silence. It wasn’t, however, uncomfortable. The quiet between them was one of trust and understanding of one another, broken only by the occasional “Watch your step” or “Look out” breaking the quiet.

He had lost track of how long they’d be looking, but Shiro eventually stopped and crouched behind a large boulder. His voice was low and hushed, hardly carrying past his face. “I think it’s right over there. There are a bunch of big crates outside.”

“Odd, I don’t think we saw anyone patrolling.” Joji responded in kind, tapping a finger to his chin in thought. 

“I’ll go take a look around. If it’s abandoned, great, less work for us, if not, we’ve got work to do.” With a nod between them, Shiro quietly slipped out from behind the boulder into the surrounding woods. He took a few steps behind the crates, trying to see what was inside, before he heard a loud, choking cough and an obnoxious laugh. 

Whipping back around, what he saw was much to his dismay. A large moose-resembling kaijin cackling, holding a struggling Joji by the throat. Bringing his arm back as if he was going to transform, Shiro was interrupted by the monster.

“Kazami Shiro! If you value the life of this traitorous man, you will cease at once!” Seeing it’s grip tightened on his companion, he lowered his arm. “Good! Now, you’ll concede and come with us.”

“I can’t trust you to let him alone if I go.” His eyes narrowed. 

“I, Axe Moose, am a noble warrior. I will keep my word.” 

Shiro took a step forward cautiously, but it was too late. A combatman snaked behind him and stuck a syringe into his neck. He gasped and took a swing, but it worked instantly and he collapsed onto the ground. 

“Excellent! As for you..” The kaijin rattled Joji around, who seemed to be struggling to remain conscious. “I’ve no need for that kind of garbage.” 

He dropped him to the ground, and, as he struggled and gasped for air, shoved the man into the roaring waters of the nearby river. Thankfully, the hearts and spirit of man are not so easily put down. Coughing and spluttering, the river spit him out much closer than the so-titled “Axe Moose” would have appreciated. 

Crawling out of the freezing water into the equally freezing air, Joji took a few deep breaths on the bank of the river. He had to catch his breath. He was needed. Shaking his head to try and clear it, he headed back towards the hideout. Surprisingly, finding a route in was easier than expected. Perhaps the lack of security was due to being in the wilderness, or it was simply avarice. Regardless, it was something he was grateful for.

Despite the amount of time that had passed, it seemed the layout of hideouts was hardly different. That was something Joji was thankful about, and he slipped in and out of sight, easily avoiding the few patrols in the halls. Such was a life like his. Unfortunately, he didn’t know where Shiro would be. Deciding that the security room was the easiest bet he could make, he sought it out.

It was easy to find. It was easy to get into. And, it was easy to take out the two lazy looking guards of the room. But what wasn’t easy was what he saw on the security screens. Too see Shiro like that… well, it was quite gruesome, in a way. To say that a cyborg could be gutted was impossible, but that was the word he would most use to describe what was going on. He grit his teeth in frustration, watching them carefully. If he could figure out what they were doing, it would be easy to reverse, but it didn’t make any sense. 

Were they going to try and reverse engineer him? Surely Hongo and Ichimonji’s work wasn’t so shoddy that it was easily figured out just like that. It would be weird process to say if they were trying to reprogram him. At this point, it didn’t matter. Whatever it was, had to stop. Joji had to think fast. Even if he transformed, it would be a struggle to both save Shiro and fight off everyone in the process. He’d need to play his hand a bit smarter. ...But not necessarily quieter. 

His eyes fell to the explosives fuse box in the room. He could blow up the base. But was it possible to do that with enough time and get Shiro away? Even if he set a timer for the explosion, would it be enough? Would the explosion even do anything? No, this was no time for self-defeating thoughts. As he glanced to the screen once more, he saw as they seemed to be bringing out some sort of electric shock. Even if he was unconscious, it still had to have hurt. Joji slammed his hand onto the hideout’s alarm and set the timer for the explosives. 

As he heard people pouring into the halls to find the intruder, he pulled himself up into the ventilation system. Thankfully, they didn’t even think twice about it. If he made a single noise, however, he’d be found out and then they’d be in real trouble. Staying calm was the way to success, in spite of the growing panic in his chest. Quietly unhooking the grate, Joji lowered himself into the lab. They had abandoned Shiro in their panic. He bolted the door. 

Joji had to work fast. He knew that, and yet all he wanted to do was punish those who did this. But not yet, not now. There was work to be done. Thankfully, the cold had dried him off, albeit stiffly, so it was easy to roll up the sleeves. Fixing the mess that was made was not simple, and he would have given anything to have Hongo or Ichimonji at his side to guide him, but they weren’t there. This was his job. 

As he worked, Shiro seemed to regain some sort of consciousness. He let out a soft “Yuki…” that caused Joji to freeze in place. With renewed vigor, he continued. Someone, someway, he managed to fix him. It was messy and hard, and took more time than he wanted, but it was done. Just as he was finishing up, the Rider slowly opened his eyes, looking around the room.

“What? Yuki, what -?” He gasped and sat up. 

“Hush.” Joji shook his head and forced open the restraints that had been placed down. “You’ve been through a lot. I was able to patch you up, but… Your clothes are still ruined.”

“What?” Shiro looked down in confusion. “Explain.”

“Not right now. We have to go. I can later.” He helped Shiro onto his feet, as he could hardly stand and frowned. “Once I open that door we have to get a move on.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Trying to leave the hideout in a timely manner, with an exhausted Shiro while also avoiding everyone running up and down the hallways was practically impossible. Multiple times he almost fell over and gave them away. But miraculously, they found the way that Joji had snuck in. It turned out that their timing was impeccable. Just as they reached the boulder they originally were crouching behind, the sound of an explosion shattered the quiet of the woods. 

“You know, them having explosives set up in their own bases seems really counter-intuitive.” Shiro gasped between breaths. 

“Something about covering their tracks. I think it’s…” Joji’s voice faded out as he felt a pressure on his hand. He glanced down to see Shiro squeezing it in encouragement. “I think it’s a bit silly, but if it works out for us.”

As they spoke, the obnoxious laugh from before filled the air. A sighed passed between them. Shiro pushed himself up, gritting his teeth.

“What, you’re going to transform? Aren’t you in pain? You shouldn’t push yourself…”

“I’m never in too much pain to stand up for those I care most about. Especially if they go through so much to protect me.”

“Ah…” Joji blinked up at him as he transformed. The conversation between V3 and the Axe Moose was nothing but soft noise.

“You really think I’d be defeated so easily, Kamen Rider V3!?”

“You think you could use your guys to tear me apart?”

“Naturally, our scientists are the greatest!”

“You’re telling me… But this! This is where you fall!”

“You’re in pain, V3! You cannot face me!”

“He’s not alone!”

“What! Riderman!” 

“You really thought you could get away with these kinds of schemes?” He shook his head at the kaijin. The fight was surprisingly simple, despite the conditions. The trust between the two of them made fighting an easy task. And with a Rider Kick, that was that. It was done.

With a heavy breath as he de-transformed, Shiro slumped against a tree, lifting his head back. Joji ran over to his side, crouching down. “Are you okay?”

“Been through worse. Like when I died. I’ll live. But what about you?”

“What? What do you mean?” His eyebrows knit together in confusion. “You were the one who got hurt…”

“You’re shaking like a leaf.” 

“Am I?”

“It must be the cold and stress.” Shiro shifted over a bit. “Why don’t we take a moment to just… relax? It’s been a long day.”

“I… You know, I think I would like that.” Joji sighed and lowered himself down besides Shiro. Once again they settled into a comfortable silence, letting the soothing sounds of nature return to the way it was. 

Perhaps though, it was too soothing, as soon enough, Joji started in surprise as Shiro’s head lolled against his shoulder, as he had drifted off into sleep. He let himself smile softly, before leaning back against the tree and staring off into the trees. Maybe just this once, they could take time to just sit and take in the calm. Just this once.

**Author's Note:**

> hello! thank you for this prompt i love them a great deal!  
this story had a lot of different forms as i struggled to take one on; apple picking, going through a haunted house, dressing in mascot costumes for undercover work.  
but i eventually settled on this, even though it's not quite in-season.  
i tried to structure it as much like an episode as i could, which accounts for the rather ridiculous way that they escape the situation ;D  
still, i hope you like it, i love writing for them, and hope you like this as much as i did coming up with the scenario! :D


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